Comment: Making Comics Thin-Skinned
It’s no secret that creative types can be pretty thin-skinned when it comes to their art, especially when they’re in their early developmental stages. Personally, when I first got into the poetry slam scene – competitive poetry readings, for the uninitiated, where original poems are performed and then judged on a scale of 0-10 by
Comment: Giving the People What They Want
Marvel EIC, Joe Quesada, and his main partner in crime, Brian Michael Bendis, caused a minor tempest in a teapot a couple of weeks ago during Newsarama‘s “Quesadarama” PR stunt that gave Quesada “control” of the site for the week. He posted an entertaining mix of informative and self-indulgent interviews with the likes of Kevin
Retro: The Sentry (TPB)
I was still out of comics back in 2000 when Marvel pulled off its Sentry hoax, pretending to have discovered a Silver Age creation of Stan Lee’s that pre-dated even the Fantastic Four, and getting that bastion of reputable comics journalism, Wizard, to go along with the stunt. Purportedly their answer to Superman, but with
Interview: Field on Free Comic Book Day
Who doesn’t like free comic books? On Saturday, May 7th, 2005, participating comic book shops across North America and around the world will be giving away comic books from more than 25 different publishers absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores, as part of the 4th Annual Free Comic Book Day, celebrating “an
Interview: O’Reilly on Arcana Studio, Part II
In Part I of this two-part interview, Arcana Studio‘s Publisher, Sean Patrick O’Reilly talked about Arcana’s successful first year, what really happened with Ant and Image, how Ezra became their most popular title, and what it takes to succeed in the comic book business. Today in Part II, we take a peek into Arcana’s future,
Interview: O’Reilly on Arcana Studio, Part I
In the midst of my ever-growing pull list, there is an elite group of comic books that rank as Must-Buys, even if it means eating Ramen for lunch all week! Two of the books currently in that group are published by Arcana Studio, the fledgling Canadian indie that is home to 100 Girls and Ezra.
Review: Ant: Days Like These (TPB)
There’s a perennial debate on which creative setup works best in comics, the collaboration or the solo creator. With superior examples on both sides, of course, there is no definitive answer, but for every good example, there’s at least as many bad ones. Creator/writer/artist Mario Gully’s intriguing concept – eight-year old Hannah Washington creates an
Comment: Being Black in a Four-Color World
It’s an old joke: Why is Black History Month the shortest month of the year? There’s no punchline to that one, of course. The question is the joke. In time for Black History Month 2005, Marvel Comics is relaunching the Black Panther in his own series, his fifth including the short-lived, unfortunately-titled but highly-regarded Jungle
The Woodshed: Wolverine: The End #6
[Some comics get bad reviews, but the really special ones get taken to The Woodshed.] *** SPOILERS A’PLENTY *** Despite the shipping delays that saw this SIX issue mini-series take FOURTEEN months to finish – #1 came out in Nov 03, #6 in Jan 05! And neither Joe Quesada or Kevin Smith had anything to
Indie Spotlight: January 2005
[From the ridiculous to the random to the superb, a quick roundup of notable indie comics (aka, not Marvel or DC proper, though Vertigo, Icon, Image, et al, do qualify) I picked up in the past month. Release dates may vary.] Skyscrapers of the Midwest #1 (Pictures and Stories by Joshua W. Cotter; AdHouse Books,